Ecstasy – by Mary Sharratt – independent book review – Historical Fiction (Germany, Austria, United States)

ECSTASY is the fascinating story of Alma Schindler Mahler Gropius Werfel (1879-1964). Awarded four stars on Goodreads.

I first learned about Alma as a child when I heard Tom Lehrer’s satirical ditty, Alma. I learned that this captivating Viennese woman was famous for marrying three brilliant and artistic giants of the 20th century [composer Gustav Mahler (1860-1911), architect Walter Gropius (1883-1969), author Franz Werfel (1890-1945)]. What I did NOT learn until reading THIS book, was that Alma was the daughter of artist Emil Jakob Schindler (1842-1892), grew up among the artists of the Viennese Secession movement (like Gustav Klimt), and was also a talented composer in her own right.

At least she was until she was forced to set aside her own aspirations at the insistence of husband Gustav Mahler, an already established composer 20+ years her senior. It seems Mahler (and his monumental ego) insisted Alma be 100% dedicated to looking after him, with no other distractions!

Getting to know Alma by reading ECSTASY was a revelation. As author Mary Sharratt acknowledges in her Historical Afterword, Alma is no easy subject for historical fiction. As a woman possessed with talent, ambition, confidence, and beauty — she was simply born at the wrong time. Mahler’s expectation that, as his wife, Alma would subsume her own interests to promote his was the norm for this era. Which means Alma’s contemporaries often write about her as some kind of seductress, harlot or unnatural man-eater.

But even with these limitations in primary research materials, Sharratt succeeds in revealing Alma’s psyche, believably portraying her as a smart and gifted musician whose talent was squelched for many years by a sexist society. Sharratt’s Alma is a woman who could not be completely fulfilled through the traditional roles of wife and mother and instead yearned for her own artistic expression, professional success, and love with someone who considered her an equal, rather than subservient. A woman who is continually questioning her own desires, that seem at times abnormal even to her.

ECSTASY covers Alma’s life from childhood until her second marriage. It’s a wonderful book to read from a 21st century feminist perspective. And I hope that one day Mary Sharratt decides to continue Alma’s story in a sequel.

More about author Mary Sharratt.

Here’s a link if you are interested in hearing songs Alma composed.

You may be interested in my review of another historical novel by Mary Sharratt, ILLUMINATIONS: A NOVEL OF HILDEGARD VON BINGEN.